AustralianInternationalSchool JuniorSchool(PreptoYear2) LearningtoSpell:AGuideforParents

Globallyfocused,distinctlyAustralian

WhentheEnglishtonguewespeak,whyis'break'notrhymedwith'freak'? Willyoutellmewhyit'strue,wesay'sew'butlikewise'few'? Andthemakerofaverse,cannotcaphis'horse'with'worse' Beard'soundsnotthesameas'heard','Cord'isdifferentfrom'word'. 'Cow'is'cow',but'low'is'low','Shoe'isneverrhymedwith'roe'. Thinkof'hose'and'dose'and'lose',Andthinkof'goose'andyetof'choose'. Thinkof'comb'and'tomb'and'bomb','Doll'and'roll',and'home'and'come'. Andsince'pay'isrhymedwith'say',Whynot'paid'with'said',pray? Wehave'blood'and'food'and'good',Mould'isnotpronouncedlike'could'. Wherefore'done',but'gone'and'lone',Isthereanyreasonknown? And,inshort,itseemstome,Soundsandlettersdisagree!

Parentsareimportantspellingteacherswhoplayanactiveroleinshapingboththeirchildren's attitudesaboutspellingaswellastheirspellingskills.Inordertobemostsupportiveinhelpingtheir childrenlearntospell,itisimportantthatparentsunderstandthefollowingbeliefsabouthowchildren developspellingability. SPELLINGISFORWRITING Justasphonicsisoneaspectofreading,spellingisoneaspectofwriting.Itthereforecannotbeseenasan isolatedskill,butratherasapartofthetotalwritingprocess.Childrenneedtolearntospellthewordsthat theyneedintheirwriting.Purposefulwritingisakeytolearningtospell.Itunlockschildren'sthinking aboutspellingbyengagingthemintheprocess.Tobecomebetterspellers,childrenmustdolotsofwriting. Writingallowsthemtoaddnewwordstotheirspellingrepertoireandengagestheirthinkingabout spelling.Inaddition,writingatschoolandhomeallowschildrentousetheiracquiredspellingknowledge.It exercisestheirspellingskillsandkeepsthemfromgettingrustyasspellers.
SPELLINGISADEVELOPMENTALPROCESS Learningtospellislikelearningtospeak:babbling,firstwords,twowordutterances,andlatermature speechrepresentdevelopmentalstagesintheconstructiveprocessoflearningtospeak.Spellingfollowsa similarpattern.Ittoobeginswithlowlevelstrategies,followedbymorecomplexproductionsaschildren selfcorrectandrefinetheirlanguage. Childrendonotlearntospellbymemorisingwordlists.Theprocessismuchmorecomplex.Tolearnto representlanguageinvisualformbyuseofgraphicsymbols,childrenmustexperienceongoinginteractions withwrittenlanguageovertime.TheymustexplorethepatternsthatformEnglishspellinganddevelopan understandingofitscomplexstructure.Theymusthaveexperienceswithprintedlanguagethatleadfrom asimpletoacomplexunderstandingofEnglishspelling.Theseexperiencesallowthemtoconstructtheir knowledgeofthespellingsystem.

Thefivedevelopmentalstagesoflearningtospellcanbesummarisedasfollows: 1. PrecommunicativestageInthisphase,childrenbecomeawarethatprintcarriesamessage: Atthisstage,thewritingisnotreadablebyothers. Theremayberandomstringsofsymbols(letters,numbersorinventedsymbols). Lettersmaybeinupperandlowercaseandusedindiscriminately. Thereisnoindicationofanyknowledgeoflettersoundcorrespondence. Childrenusuallyassignamessagetotheirownsymbols. 2. SemiphoneticstageInthisphase,childrenshowdevelopingunderstandingofsoundsymbol relationships: Theirspellingattemptsshowevidenceofsoundsymbolcorrespondence.However,itmaybe abbreviated,withonlyoneortwoletters(usuallyconsonants)torepresentaword.Children relyonthesoundswhicharemostobvioustothem.Thismaybetheinitialsound,initialand finalsounds,orinitial,medialandfinalsoundse.g.D(down),DON(down),KT(kitten),WT (went),BAB(baby),LRFT(elephant). Atthisstage,childrenhavegreatdifficultywithvowelse.g.FESH(fish). Thewritingmaydisplayspacesbetweenwords. 3. PhoneticSpellingStageAtthisstage,thespellingisnotstandard;butthewritingismeaningful andcanusuallybereadbyothers: Childrenareabletoprovideanalmostperfectmatchbetweenlettersandsounds.Lettersare chosenonthebasisofsound,oftenwithoutregardforconventionalletterpatternse.g.kaj (cage),tabl(table),birgla(burglar),vampia(vampire),pepl(people),sum(some),bak(back). Theremaybesubstitutionofincorrectletterswithsimilar(oreventhesame)pronunciation. Actually,thesesubstitutesoftenindicatethatagreatdealofcommonsenseisbeingusedby thespellere.g.JRINK(drink),CHRAIN(train). Nasalconsonantsmaybeomittede.g.STAP(stamp),WET(went). Pasttensemayberepresentedindifferentways,accordingtothesoundshearde.g.PILD (peeled),LOOKT(looked),TRADID(traded). Wordsegmentationandspatialorientationareclearlyevident. Developmentofparticularspellingsforcertainsoundsoftenusingselfformulatedrulese.g. becoz(because)/woz(was),wher(were)/whas(was),dor(door)/sor(saw)/mor(more),hape (happy)/fune(funny),poot(put)/wood(would). 4. TransitionalSpellingStage(fromsoundstostructures)Inthisphase,childrenaremovingaway fromaheavyrelianceonthephoneticstrategytowardtheuseofvisualandmeaningbased strategies: Theymaystillhavedifficultyrecognisingifaword'looksright'butshouldbeabletoprooftheir knownbankofwords.Writingwillshowevidenceofanincreasingbankoflearnedwords. Vowelsappearineverysyllablee.g.ELAFUNT. Nasalsappearbeforeconsonantse.g.COMBD. Avowelisinsertedbeforeafinal'r'e.g.RUNNURinsteadofRUNNR. CommonEnglishlettersequencesareusede.g.YOUNITED. Voweldigraphsoftenappeare.g.MAIKandMAYK.

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Inflectionalendings(s,'s,ing,ed,est)arespeltconventionally. Correctlettersmaybeusedbutintheincorrectsequencee.g.BECUASE(because)andPLIAN (plain). Learnedwords(thosespeltcorrectly)generallyappearmoreoften.

Independent(correct)spellingstageInthisphase,childrenhavebecomeawareofthemany patternsandrulesthatarecharacteristicofourspellingsystem: Whenspellinganewword,theyuseamultistrategyapproach.Theyhavetheabilitytorecognise whenaworddoesn'tlookright,andtothinkofalternativespellings.Spellersinthisphasewillhave accumulatedalargebankofknownwordstheycanautomaticallyrecall. AwarenessofthemanypatternsandrulesthatarecharacteristicoftheEnglishspellingsysteme.g. commonEnglishletterpatterns,relationshipbetweenmeaningandspelling. Abletomakegeneralisationsandapplythemtonewsituationse.g.rulesforaddingsuffixes, selectionofappropriateletterpatterns Abletospellaccuratelyprefixes,suffixes,constructions,compoundwords. Usescontexttodistinguishhomonymsandhomophones. Abletousesilentlettersanddoubleconsonantscorrectly. Effectivelyspellwordswithuncommonspellingpatternsandwordswithirregularspellinge.g. aisle,quay,liaise. Useslesscommonletterpatternscorrectlye.g.weird,forfeit,cough,andreign. Usesamultistrategyapproachtospelling(visualpatterns,soundpatterns,meaning). Abletorecogniseifaworddoesn'tlookrightandtothinkofalternativespellings. Analysesandcheckswork,editingwritingandcorrectlyspelling. Recogniseswordoriginsandusesthisinformationtomakemeaningfulassociationsbetween words. Continuestoexperimentwhenwritingnewwords. Usesspellingreferencessuchasdictionaries,thesaurusesandresourcebooksappropriately. Usessyllabificationwhenspellingnewwords. Hasaccumulatedalargebankofknownsightwordsandisusingmoresophisticatedlanguage. Showsincreasedinterestinthesimilarities,differences,relationshipsandoriginsofwords. Iswillingtotakerisksandresponsibilitiesandisawareofawriter'sobligationstoreadersinthe areaofspelling. Hasapositiveattitudetowardsselfasaspeller. Hasaninterestinwordsandenjoysusingthem. Iswillingtousearangeofresourcesandextendknowledgeofwords,includingderivation, evolutionandapplication.

Itmustbeemphasisedthatthese'stages'arecontinuousandoverlapping,andthatonepieceofwriting mayshowattemptedspellingsatvariousstages. CRITICISMOFCHILDREN'SSPELLINGSHOULDBEAVOIDED Whenchildrenwriteathome,parentsshouldreservetheircommentsforthecontentofthewritingand notbecriticalofspellingerrors.Theyshouldreacttothechildren'sideas,accompanyingtheircomments withpraiseandencouragementforthewriting.Ifchildren'sspellingisoverlycriticised,theyareunlikelyto volunteertodomorewriting.Parentsshouldinsteadpraisetheirchildren'sspelling,rememberingthat correctspellingofmisspeltwordswillcomenaturallyasspellingskillsdevelop.

INVENTEDSPELLINGISIMPORTANT Importantfoundationsoflearningtospellaresetwiththeuseofinventedorapproximatedspelling. Whenyoungchildrenusewhattheyknowaboutaspellingsystemtoguessaword'sspelling,theyare "inventing"spelling,notjustspellingincorrectly.Inventingspellingisathinkingprocess.Inventedspellings areeverydayoccurrencesinchildren'swriting. Childrenmovethroughdevelopmentalstagesofinventedspellinginthesamewayastheymovethrough developmentalstagesofspeech.Inventedspellingdoesnotleadtotheformationofbadspellinghabits. Whenchildrenencounternewinformationaboutstandardspelling,theyreadilymodifytheirhypotheses andhavenodifficultyadoptingstandardspelling.Ultimately,theexpertspellerisabletouseinformation fromvisualmemory,aswellasknowledgeofphonetic,contextualandmeaningrelationshipstodetermine thecorrectspellingofaword. SUCCESSFULSPELLERS Therearesomethingsthatgoodspellersdobythemselvesthatallspellersmustlearntodo. Writeoften Goodspellerswriteeasilyandoften.Theynaturallyturntowritingasanaidtothinking,ameansof rememberingandavehicleforcommunication. Haveaspellingconscience Goodspellersareawareofspellingandarealerttothepresenceoferrorsintheirownandotherpeople's writing.Theycareaboutspelling. Canusereferences Goodspellersnoticethewaywordsarewritteninallkindsofplaces.Theycanthinkofanappropriate placetocheckonawordtheyneedtouseevenaperson'snameorthenameofaplaceandhavethe skillstofindwhattheywant. Takechanceswithspelling Goodspellersareneverstoppedbyanewwordtheycannotspell.Theywilldrawonwhattheyknowto produceanapproximationortemporaryspellingandthencheckwithareference. Haveastrongvisualmemory Goodspellerscan: seewordswithinwords perceivelettersequencesandpatterns predictlettersequencesandpatterns Makelogicalgeneralisationsaboutspelling Goodspellerscanmakelinksbetweenknownwordsandnewwords.Theycanusesoundpatterns,

morphemesandwordmeaningstoproduceapproximationsforchecking,andoftencorrectversionsof wordstheyhaveneverseenorheardbefore. Haveasystematicapproachtolearning Goodspellersapproachspellingasaproblemsolvingchallenge.Theyliketomakeuptheirownrulesabout thewaywordsarespelledortothinkuptricksforremembering.Theyliketodiscoverunderlyingprinciples ofspellinganddon'trelyonmerememorisation. GoodSpellers.. lookforpatterns lookforwordparts tryseveralwaystowriteaword writesoundsinwords writeavowelineachwordandineachsyllable thinkaboutwordsthatsoundthesame thinkaboutwordsthatlookthesame checktoseeifwordslookright thinkaboutwhatwordsmean practisewords useadictionarytocheck lookforwordsintheclassroom asksomeoneiftheycantfigureitout

Questionsthatwillhelpchildrenworkouthowtospellwords Doesthewordlookright?Ifnot,haveItriedanotherwaytowriteit? CanIfindthepartI'mnotsureofandunderlineit? CanIdividethewordintoparts?Haveanypartsbeenaddedtoit? CanIdividethewordintosyllables? Whatisthemeaningoftheword?IsitlikeanyotherwordIknow? DoIknowwherethewordcomesfrom? IfIsaythewordslowly,canIhearthesoundsinorder? HaveItriedtofindthewordinawordbankoradictionary? IfICan'tSpellaWordICan: UsemyHaveaGopadandtrydifferentletterpatterns Sounditout Thinkaboutthemeaningtoseeifithelps Dividethewordintosyllablesorintoseparateparts Checkinmypersonaldictionary Lookonthechartsaroundtheroom Lookinourlistofclasswords Askafriend

HowtoLearnaWord LOOK Firstlookatthewholewordcarefully. Ifthereisonepartofthewordthatyoufinddifficult,lookespeciallyhardatthatpart. SAY Saytheword. COVER Covertheword. WRITE Writethewordfrommemory. Saythewordsoftlyasyouwriteit. CHECK Haveyougotitright?Ifnot,startagainLOOK,SAY,COVER,WRITE,CHECK. Remember:Don'tcopyaword.Alwayswritethewholewordfrommemory. UsingaHaveaGoCard Thinkaboutthemeaningoftheword.Doesitgiveacluetothespellingpattern? Saythewordslowly.Listentothesounds. Writethewordsyllablebysyllable. Makesureeachsoundisrepresentedbyaletterorletters. Lookcarefullytoseeifthepatternlooksright.Ifnot: Trydifferentpatternsthatmightberight. Seeifyoucanthinkofanotherwordthatmaybesimilar. Tryagain. ProofReading Proofreadingyourownwritingishardbecauseyouknowitsowell.Trytoleaveitforafewdaysandthen: Placearulerunderonelineatatimeandreadeachwordcarefully. Circleanywordsyouthinkarenotspeltcorrectly. Ifyouknowhowtospellanyofthesewords,writethecorrectspellingabovethecircle. Askafriendtocheckthatyouhavecircledallthemisspeltwords. Chooseuptofiveofthecircledwordsthatyouwillneedtouseagaininyourwriting. Putthesewordsinyourspellingjournalandstarttolearnthem. SOMECOMMONSPELLINGSTRATEGIES 1. Modelling Writingerrorsarenotcorrectedassuch,butthecorrectformispresentedtothechilde.g.rewritethe

correctformofachild'ssentenceunderneaththeirattempt. 2. BuildupWordCollections Thesecouldbe:wordsthatthechildhaslearnedhowtospell wordswithasimilarvisualstructure(e.g.would,could,shoulder,mould) wordsthatcontainsimilarsounds(e.g.pie,I,sky,eye,buy) 3. LookingforWordsWithinWords Encouragingchildrentolookforwordswithinwordshelpsthemtoformassociationsandgeneralisations byfocusingonthevisualcharacteristicsofwordse.g.intheword'anteater'wefind,ant,eater,tea,eat, teat,ate. 4. MorphemicKnowledge Theuseofmorphemicknowledgehelpschildrenintherecallofwordstructures.Itincludesthestudyof prefixes,suffixes,andbaseorrootwords. 5. Mnemonics Thiscanbeausefuldeviceforusewithirregularwords,wordscontainingsimilarspellingsbuthaving differentmeaningsorwordswhichhaveunusualordifficultstructures. E.g.Apieceofpie Youhearwithyourears Animalseatmeat 6. Spellingrules Theteachingofsomespellingrulesmayhelpsomechildren. 7. 'Haveago' Whenchildrenwanttowriteawordthattheyfeeltheycannotspell,encouragethemto'haveago'soas nottointerrupttheflowofwriting. 8. DevelopinganUnderstandingofSoundSymbolRelationships Aknowledgeofsoundsymbolrelationshipsisanimportantaspectofthespellingprocess.However,the complexandvariablenatureoftheserelationshipsmakesitadifficultandunreliablespellingclue. Childrenneedtolearnthat: Aletterorlettersequencerepresentssoundwithinawordwithinacontext: Iwillreadthebook.Ihavereadthebook. Aletterorlettersequencemayrepresentdifferentsounds: troughhiccoughroughboughthoughthroughthorough Asoundmayberepresentedbyvariouslettersorlettersequences:

Aprilraincaveeightgaoldaytheystraight Insomewords,thesoundmaybedifferentdependingonthedialect: tomatovasepass Insomewordsthereisnoclueastothesoundswithinaword: Forexample,silentletters:knifecalmpsalm doubleletters:pillswimmingaardvark Totrytorepresentthesoundsheardinawordisadifficulttaskforyoungspellerswhohavealimited knowledgeofsoundsymbolrelationshipsandlikelylettersequences.Childrenneedtolearnthatthe soundstheyhearinawordareonlyoneclueastothespellingoftheword.Thevisualaspectoftheword, whatthewordlookslike,islikelytobemorereliablewhentryingtorecallaparticularspelling. Ifachildhasnotseenawordinprintbefore,thenitisnecessarytofocusonthesoundsheardintheword. 9. ProofReading After children have finished a draft copy of their writing, the mechanicssuchasspellingbecomeimportant.Childrenshould be encouraged to proof read their own writing, checking for spellingerrors. Askthemtoidentifywordsthattheythinkmaybespelt incorrectly: underlinetheword underlinepartoftheword circletheword Encouragechildrentofindthecorrectspellingofthewordfor themselvesbyreferringto: adictionary awordlist awordbook agoodspeller Children should be continually encouraged to become independentwriters. HELPINGCHILDRENWITHSPELLINGDIFFICULTIES Sixmajoraspectsofspellingwhichmaycauseproblemsforchildrenhavebeenidentified: acquiringalargehighfrequencyvocabulary developinggraphophonicunderstandings knowledgeofcommonsequentialletterpatterns knowledgeofmeaningandmorphemes knowledgeofandcontroloverstrategies,sothatthemostappropriatecanbeappliedacrossa

 DevelopingaHighFrequencyVocabulary Childrenneedtodevelopaspellingvocabularyofhighfrequency,commonlyusedsightwords.These wordsmakeupapproximately50%ofwhatwereadandwrite.Ifchildrencanspellthesewords automatically,itwillgreatlyfacilitatetheirwriting.Ifchildrenarehavingproblemswithsomecommonhigh frequencywords,itisoffundamentalimportancethattheylearntofocusonthecritical(mostsignificant) featuresofaworde.g.said,because,what.Mnemonics(memorytricksandrules)canbeusedtohelp themmemorisethesecriticalfeatures. GeneralActivities Somesuggestedactivitiesthatwillhelpchildrenlearnhighfrequencywords: Decorateorillustratethewords. Typeoutthewords. Lookataword.Focusonthepartwhichiscausingaproblem.Shutyoureyes.Thinkaboutthe word.Writeitdown. Makethewordsintoacrosswordpuzzle. Writetheword.Thinkaboutit.Foldthepaperover.Writetheword.Checkback.Correctif necessary. Writethewordongraphpaper.Cutthelettersout.Buildthewordfromthecutoutletters. Colourandtraceoverthewordfivetimes. Writeanonsensesentenceincludingasmanyofyourspellingwordsasyoucan. Makeadesignusingthespellingwordsprintedendtoende.g.acircle,atriangle,aspiral. Takeoneofyourspellingwords.Makeasmanyotherwordsfromitasyoucanbyaddingtoitand makingotherwordsfromit,e.g.reference:referenced,referencing,references,referee,referent, refer. Writethewordsusingstringorpipecleaners. Usespellingwordstomakeaspellingstepladder.Eachwordshouldstartwiththeletterwhich endsthewordbefore.Otherwordsmayneedtobeaddedtocreatelinksbetweenthespelling words. Writeoutthespellingwordsleavingoutsomeletters.Fillinthemissinglettersthenextday. Jumbleupthelettersofthespellingwords.Sortthemoutthenextday. Findwordsthatrhymewiththespellingwords.Decideiftheyarespelledthesameordifferently. Playword'Bingo'. Searchforthewordsinmagazinesandnewspaperscircleorunderlinethem. DevelopingGraphophonicRelationships Mostchildrengraduallymakelinksbetweensymbolandsoundastheyinteractwithwrittenlanguage. Graphophonicelementsneedtobefocusedonandexaminedinthecontextofwords. StrengtheningKnowledgeofCommonSequentialLetterPatterns Children need to understand that words must not only sound right, but they must also look right. Some childrenseemto getstuckin thePhoneticphase ofspellingdevelopment. These childrenusually have a

rangeofcontexts breakingawayfrom'safe'spellingand'reluctant'writing

soundunderstandingofgraphophonicrelationshipsbuthavenotdevelopedanyalternativestrategiesthat theycanapplywhenagraphophonicstrategyisnotappropriate.Oneofthemajorstrategiestheyneedto develop is the use of common letter patterns which characterise the spelling of English words. Children needtobetaughttolookforandfocusonthehighlypredictablesequentialletterpatternsofEnglishe.g. other,brother,mother,bother. DevelopingKnowledgeofMeaningandMorphemes Children experiencing difficulties often forget that meaning can be a guide to the spelling of words. In English,mostwordsthathavethesamemeaningbasearespeltthesame. Ifthemeaningisdifferent,thenthespellingisdifferent.Thewaythewordiswrittenreflectsmeaninge.g. sign,signature. Morphemesareunitsofmeaning.Dissolvecontainstwomorphemesdisandsolve,andthushasadouble 's'.Disappearonlyhasone's'becausethetwomorphemesaredisandappear. Teachingchildrentousemorphemicknowledgewillalsohelpthemtorecallspelling. Trythefollowing: Askchildrentocollectasmanywordsastheycanwithaspecificprefixe.g.'un'.Fromtheevidence theyhavecollected,challengethemtodefinethemeaningoftheprefix. Challengechildrentochooseanotherprefixwhichtheyencounterintheirreading,anddiscoverits meaninginthesameway. Askchildreniftheythinktheycandothesamethingwithasuffix.Challengethemtoprovide evidenceinsupportoftheirstatement. Challengechildrentoseehowmanywordstheycanconstructfromanyonemorphemee.g.build, built,building,builder,builds. EncouragechildrentochooseoneLatinorGreekderivativeandfindasmanywordsusingthat derivativeaspossiblee.g.primas:primacy,primadonna,primarily,primary,primate,prime, primer,primeval...vorquart:quarter,quartet,quartz... Givechildrenonestemfromwhichtheycanbuildasmanywordsaspossiblee.g.rest:restful, restive,restless,restaurant,restitution,restore,restrain,restrict... Askchildrentofindasmanycompoundwordsaspossible.Letthemdividetheseintotheir componentpartsandprintthemoncardswhileyoungerchildrencanusethemtoplaysnape.g. foot/ball,pea/nutetc. Thediscoveryofwordderivationscanalsoguidespellinge.g.graphics,graphology,telegraph;sign, signal,signature,resign,history,historian,historical. DevelopingKnowledgeofandControloverStrategies Children need to learn to use a range of different spelling strategies and techniques according to the demandofthetask.Majorstrategiesare: *usinggraphophonicknowledge *usingknowledgeofcommonletterpatterns *usingvisualmemory *usingmeaningandmorphologicalknowledge *consultinganauthority

BreakingAwayfrom'Safe'Spellingand'ReluctantWriting Childrenneedtoparticipateinauthenticwritingactivitieswheretheyarewritingforrealaudiencesand purposes.Childrenwhoare'safespellers'or'reluctantwriters'needspecificsupporttoencouragethemto 'haveago'atnewwordsandusemorevariedvocabulary.